Shopify AI Shopping Assistant: Ultimate Guide to Sell More on Shopify

Running an ecommerce business is no small feat. It's a responsibility that never ends. You are constantly working on new products, plans to grow your Shopify store, and putting in extra man-hours to make profits. 

And the best tool to take off the weight from your shoulders is an AI shopping assistant on Shopify. From personalized product recommendations to 24/7 customer support, AI-powered shopping assistants are transforming how Shopify stores engage with customers and increase sales. In this blog, you'll learn how to use an AI shopping assistant to your advantage and get the best out of it.

What is a Shopify AI shopping assistant? 

An AI shopping assistant is a smart sales and support tool that helps guide customers to find products and answers on your Shopify store.

Once trained, it recommends products, answers customer queries, and creates a better shopping experience for your customers around the clock. 

Unlike traditional, rule-based chatbots that answer based on trigger keywords and preset replies, AI shopping assistants use Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning to understand customers better and answer every question with a personalized reply. With every interaction, it learns, trains, and improves on its own. 

It is nothing less than having a virtual shopping assistant that’s available 24/7.

5 Benefits of using an AI shopping assistant on Shopify

You know what an AI shopping assistant is, but why do you need that on your Shopify store? To answer that, here are 5 benefits of using an AI shopping assistant on your Shopify store. 

1. Offers 24/7 instant support: 

Instant answers are the key to avoiding customer drop-offs and cart abandonment. No one likes waiting, and that includes your customers. While a live agent is available only for a specific period of time, emails take forever to respond to. But not an AI shopping assistant. 

With a Shopify AI chatbot, you can answer all customer queries instantly and accurately. 

2. Personalized shopping experience:

Most times, customers leave your store without buying because they are confused. 

They are not sure 

• If the shirt is the right fit for them, 
• Will the serum cause breakouts on their oily skin? 
• Is the toy actually eco-friendly?
• Where should they position their new furniture?

Too many questions yet no one to answer them. But not anymore! An AI chatbot acts as their personal shopping assistant. It offers personalized product recommendations in real time, creating a perfect shopping experience for your customers. 

Think of it as a digital salesperson who knows each customer by name and what they actually want, offering a tailored experience. 

3. Increases sales and conversions:

An AI shopping assistant on Shopify is not just about answering customer queries and recommending products. It's a sales machine that keeps selling products at every possible juncture. 

• It upsells products by suggesting higher value products as a better alternative. 
• Cross-sells complementary products as bundles or as an add on product suggestion. 
• Keeps customers informed about limited time offers and deals. 

You know what that does? Double your sales and average order value in no time. Customers are constantly engaged to buy more, and that automatically increases your overall sales.

4. Reduces customer support cost:

Building and maintaining an efficient customer support team is no small feat. It's expensive and time consuming. And the best alternative is an AI sales assistant. 

An AI shopping assistant can handle thousands of customers at the same time, giving consistent and accurate answers across all platforms. 

It literally never takes a break, works 24/7, and it's simple to train and monitor the AI assistant. And most importantly, it costs only a fraction of what your human support team costs.

5. Lowers cart abandonment: 

AI shopping assistants sell proactively. It knows when to pitch in and help the customer. There are several AI assistants on Shopify that detect customer hesitation, or when they switch tabs, and use this to lure customers with limited-time deals and offers. 

AI shopping assistants are also a great way to gather customer feedback, email, and phone numbers to create a perfect mailing list. Use this data to send out cart recovery emails and special discounts.

AI shopping assistants vs Traditional chatbots

Some of you might still have your doubts about what exactly an AI shopping assistant does that’s different from a traditional chatbot. Here is a table explaining the difference between the two for your better understanding. 

Common misconceptions about AI shopping assistants

While the world adapts to AI, hesitation still prevails among Shopify merchants when it comes to AI chatbots. Time to clear up some dust and misconceptions about using an AI shopping assistant on Shopify. 

Myth 1: AI can’t handle complex queries

AI technology is far more advanced than it was when this statement used to hold value. But not anymore. 

AI shopping assistants use advanced NLP and machine learning to understand customer intent completely, in full context. 

It might make some mistakes in the beginning, but constant training and improvements positively affect its performance in the long run. 

AI shopping assistants are indeed ready to respond to thousands of complex and unique customer queries. It is no less than your best agent. 

Myth 2: AI replaces human agents

AI is not here to replace your support team, but to make it more efficient. 

Some customers still prefer a human agent over AI, and in such situations, the AI gracefully transfers the chat to its best human agent. 

Moreover, you need a live agent to constantly monitor and train the AI shopping assistant to ensure its performance quality. 

Myth 3: AI feels robotic and impersonal

Ruled based chatbots are cold, robotic, and answer with preset responses. But an AI assistant is different. 

It is trained to engage in a human like conversation, adapt to your store’s tone, and handle customers in a casual language. 

It understands customer requirements and answers to each customer based on their needs.

Common mistakes to avoid when setting up an AI shopping assistant

Integrating an AI shopping assistant to your Shopify store is the best thing you can do for your store. But there are a few potential pitfalls that can affect its effectiveness. Here are some common mistakes you should avoid while setting up your Shopify AI chatbot. 

1. Ignoring analytics & insights

While using an AI chatbot, ensure to keep an eye on the analytics and insights. These are key to identifying your AI’s performance and efficiency. 

Moreover, you can understand customer behaviour, areas that need improvement, and whether or not the AI assistant is answering properly. 

Based on these data, you can fine tune the AI and optimize its performance to get better conversions and sales. 

2. Poor AI training

Setting up an AI chatbot on Shopify is not a one time thing. You have got to train it properly from time to time. 

As new products are launched, you have to resync the product catalog and feed necessary information about the products to help the chatbot help customers find products. 

Update your FAQs and other documents regularly to ensure customers are getting relevant answers. 

With regular training, the AI will understand the store better and will improve its responses, making it more effective in handling queries. 

3. Neglecting customization

Customization is the key to making things personal and welcoming. AI chatbots can engage in a human like conversation, but to make it less robotic, you have to personalize its appearance and tone. 

From the welcome message to how it handles customer queries, set a tone that reflects your brand to avoid generic responses. 

4. Lack of human support:

AI can handle complex queries. But you still need a human agent to take over the chat when necessary. Some customers are more comfortable with human agents rather than talking to a chatbot. 

Sometimes, the AI is not trained to answer certain questions or handle a specific query. When that happens, the chatbot should be able to hand over the conversation to a live agent.

Best AI shopping assistant for Shopify — AskTimmy

If you are looking for the best Shopify AI shopping assistant, then you definitely should try AskTimmy on your Shopify store.  

AskTimmy is both affordable and loaded with features that help increase your sales and customer satisfaction. It is easy to add the AI chatbot in a few simple steps. Here are the features that stand out and make it one of the best AI shopping assistants on Shopify. 

AI knowledge base - Accurate answers

AskTimmy comes with a vast knowledge base to train the AI chatbot. You can feed FAQs, blogs, websites, and even documents to optimize the chatbot. 

It comes with a custom prompt option, using which you can fine tune the AI replies. It also helps personalize the AI replies to adapt to your store and tone. 

Advanced photo search - Personalized recommendations

Customers can even upload an image and ask the chatbot to recommend similar or complementary products using the advanced photo search feature. 

AskTimmy analyzes the image uploaded and recommends products available on your store that match customer requirements. 

Such personalized recommendations get your customers exactly what they are looking for. This helps increase sales and overall AOV. 

Creates product bundles - Upsell & cross sell

AskTimmy can create personalized product bundles within the chat. And the best part? It comes with a direct ‘Add to cart’ button to add the whole bundle to the cart in one single click. 

Each bundle is unique and personalized based on the customer and the product. Moreover, bundles are a great way to sell more on Shopify and boost your AOV. 

Frequently asked questions

1. Can a Shopify AI shopping assistant handle refunds and tracking?

Yes. An AI shopping assistant like AskTimmy can handle customer queries about their order in real time. 

It can provide a tracking ID and explain return and refund policies as well to customers. 

2. How much does an AI assistant cost on Shopify? 

AI shopping assistants are available on the Shopify app store. The pricing varies from app to app, but there are several apps, such as AskTimmy, that come with free plans to start with. 

You can experience the app for free on your Shopify store before you decide to invest in the right app. 

3. Is an AI assistant better than a human support agent? 

While AI assistants cannot completely replace human agents, they do have features that stand out when compared to a live agent. 

For instance, it is available 24/7, takes no breaks, and knows everything about your store, product information, inventory orders, and policies. It also engages with customers in multiple languages.